Sadly I was unable to observe Flight 5, but it affords me an opportunity to take a closer look at the results, provide a few statistics and, in the time honoured fashion of sporting reportage, make things up.

Flight 5 appears to have been a humdinger with Valsheda (950) maintaining the lead (in the absence (?) of Feng Shui (1348)), Quantum (1314) cementing a solid 3rd place with 3 credible races and Upfront (814) bouncing back after dropping two races last week.

Al Gair's Valsheda remains far and away the 'winningest' boat with 7 bullets and 12 places, but any drops at this stage (their worst result is 7th) will count dearly. On the flip-side of this equation, Bobby's Girl has demonstrated that latecomers and/or absentees can make serious gains with good results.

Apologies for the absence of refreshments for this flight from Coast New Zealand - rest assured that normal service will resume in due course.